6 out of 10 Foreign Drug Offenders Are 'Illegal Immigrants'

715 Foreigners Arrested for Drug Offenses This Year
422 Are Illegal Immigrants... Fivefold Increase in 4 Years
"Preemptive Blockade of International Drug Distribution Networks Needed"

More than half of the foreign drug offenders caught by the police this year were illegal immigrants. The proportion of illegal immigrants, which was only 28.9% in 2018, has been increasing every year.

According to data submitted by the National Police Agency to Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, among the 715 foreign drug offenders arrested by the police from January to May this year, 422, or 59.0%, were illegal immigrants.

The number of illegal foreign drug offenders increased by 449.4% over four years, from 172 in 2018 to 353 in 2019, 697 in 2020, 811 in 2021, and 945 last year.

During the same period, the total number of foreign drug offenders rose by 194.8%, from 596 in 2018 to 1,757 last year. The increase in illegal foreign drug offenders was more than twice as steep.

The proportion of illegal immigrants among foreign drug offenders exceeded half, rising from 28.9% in 2018 to 32.3% in 2019, 47.5% in 2020, 48.5% in 2021, and 53.8% last year.

By nationality, three out of four were Thai nationals. Among the 3,400 illegal foreign drug offenders arrested from 2018 to May this year, 2,543, or 74.8%, were Thai nationals. They were followed by 440 Vietnamese, 160 Chinese, 50 Russians, 48 Uzbeks, 39 Kazakhs, 34 Cambodians, 6 Filipinos, and 5 Americans.

Rep. Jeong said, "The increasing trend of foreign drug offenders is serious and there is a great risk of spreading to local residents. The Commissioner of the National Police Agency must respond with full force to eradicate illegal immigrant drug criminals, including preemptively blocking international distribution networks and rooting them out."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.